Prom 26: Beethoven / Sarah Gibson / Brahms, BBC Philharmonic, Feldmann / Bihlmaier

[bluestateprommer]

Thursday 8 August 2024
19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61
[Encore: Elgar: Salut d'amor]

Interval

Sarah Gibson: warp & weft
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, op. 98

Tobias Feldmann, violin (Proms debut artist)
BBC Philharmonic
Anja Bihlmaier, conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e3drn3

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-24/prom-26/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021k2r

[edashtav]

What a surprise: a version of the first movement's cadenza based on Beethoven's revision, arranged by Wolfgang Schneidermann. Beethoven scored it with obbligato timpani. It was new to me and I found its memories of the 3 x D strokes which introduce the movement rather insistent and a bit of a straitjacket. One stretch was almost military in bearing.
The performance was sturdy and Germanic. I appreciated the soloist's warm tone and impeccable intonation throughout the 45minutes of the Concerto.. The encore was Elgar's Salut d'Amour with light orchestral accompaniment.
I commend Tobias Feldmann to those listeners who catch up in the days to come.

[bluestateprommer]

Georgia Mann just mentioned the cadenzas from Tobias F. as being something of a mash-up of Beethoven's own cadenza for the piano concerto version of this work plus the cadenza by Wolfgang Schneiderhan. The performance didn't particularly blow me away, and I thought I detected a few slightly micro-second-y off entrances, as well as some rather stretched out moments, but no matter. It was certainly a fine reading. Full credit, though, for Tobias F.'s very charming intro of the encore. No doubt TF has made a lot of new friends in the RAH tonight.

BTW, the official announcement on Anja B.'s appointment to the BBC Philharmonic:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/anja-bihlmaier-bbc-philharmonic-orchestra-announcement

Anja B. seems to have made a pretty fast and positive impact on the BBC Philharmonic, given her several appearances with the orchestra and in the UK in fairly quick succession. So it wasn't a surprise that the orchestra made this announcement.

The understanding from various tributes (example here) to Sarah Gibson was that she was working on a new composition for The Proms, titled beyond the beyond, but sadly her cancer put paid to that.

[Ein Heldenleben]

What a surprise: a version of the first movement's cadenza based on Beethoven's revision. He scored it with obbligato timpani. It was new to me and I found its memories of the 3 x D strokes which introduce the movement rather insistent and a bit of a straitjacket. One stretch was almost military in bearing.
the performance was sturdy and Germanic. I appreciated the soloist's warm tone and impeccable intonation.

Didn’t he write the cadenza with timps for his piano transcription of the concerto? And it’s now been adopted by violinists. I wasn’t that knocked sideways by the violinist’s intonation but it was better than the trail for this Prom which is seriously sharp. I almost wonder whether it’s possible to play in tune in the hall. There’s the heat and the very unforgiving acoustic for the soloist.

[edashtav]

Didn’t he write the cadenza with timps for his piano transcription of the concerto? And it’s now been adopted by violinists. I wasn’t that knocked sideways by the violinist’s intonation but it was better than the trail for this Prom which is seriously sharp. I almost wonder whether it’s possible to play in tune in the hall. There’s the heat and the very unforgiving acoustic for the soloist.

Yes, you're right about the early genesis of the Cadenza with times. More recently, several 20th century violinists have adapted it to suit their needs.
I was gradually washing up whilst listening to Tobias so, perhaps, my ears may have been affected by bubbles and noises off.

[edashtav]

Sarah Gibson's Warp and Weft was beautifully orchestrated with plenty of colour and variety. Sadly, the work's musical content was threadbare worn: late 20th century Conservative designed to immediately please whoever commissioned the piece. I kept myself from dozing off by playing 'spot the influence'.. Music for a while but lacking the originality to be in repertoire in 25 years time. It was very sad to hear that Sarah Gibson has died at a young age.

[edashtav]

There was that was fresh and well thought through in Anja Bihlmaier's interpretation of Brahms ultimate Symphony. My worries were twofold: is she a micromanager and does she have a mercurial, free spirit. On the first count I felt that she conducted as if she were Gustav Mahler inserting telling details that Brahms, in his classical wisdom, had omitted. On the second charge, I wondered whether she was having wonderful extra ideas in real time during performance in the manner of Constantin Silvestri. One string phrase ended raggedly as only part of the string body read her changed intentions.
Did you find the horns rather forwardly balanced? On the other hand, were the clarinets obscured by Anja's homemade mutes?

Much to admiree and nothing to hate. Anja will soon learn that less is often more. After John Wilson's 'I'm a robot' conducting, a bit of Anja's expressive freedom and , dare I write it, feminine capriciousness, is a real tonic for jaded palettes. I shall follow with interest both Anja and Tobias's careers.

[oddoneout]

This was a performance of the violin concerto that I didn't much enjoy - which is unusual for me, normally my pleasure in the music can overcome negatives in performance. However last night I found myself feeling uncomfortable throughout most of it, and not because of technical matters, more a physical unease. Eventually I pinned it down to a sense that the orchestra and the soloist did not share the same pulse, heartbeat of you like, not the technical all-following-the-same-beat pulse. For me it meant among other things that the orchestra and soloist didn't seem to be connected as I would have expected - again not a case of technical lack of connection(although there was that at times I felt), more two strands running concurrently rather than interwoven, that sometimes just happened to come together.
Vague I know, for which I apologise - but that's the nature of music - personal responses don't always lend themselves to factual explanations.

[smittims]

It must be terribly hard for a young soloist to go on and play the Beethoiven at the Proms for the first time, , knowing that half the audience could have stayed at home and listened to Huberman, Kreisler, Menuhin , Heifetz, Kulenkampf, Milstein etc,etc. instead. I know Beethoven was only in his early 30s when he wrote it but it seems to me to require maturity , maybe because it was many years before I could listen to it contentedly.

I had not heard of Sarah Gibson before I saw her 'Warp and Weft' played on Sky Arts a few weeks ago.

[kernelbogey]

I was in the Hall, under difficult personal circumstances, and stayed only for the Beethoven. I enjoyed the performance and didn't have the sense that orchestra and soloist were on different pulses. Tobias Feldmann is a very physical performer - twisting and ducking at the waist, gesturing with his whole upper body as he goes through a cadence - and of course through the cadenzas. I think that his personality, if I may put it like that, as well as his performance, was a large factor in the burst of enthusiastic applause following the last movement of the concerto. I have intended to listen again on Sounds to refresh my memory of the performance - and to hear the Brahms that I missed. I thought Anja Bihlmaier and the BBC Philharmonic were in respectful coordination, though possibly the orchestral part lacked a bit of fizz. This concerto is an especial favourite of mine, so it was a sadness to have my enjoyment of the evening compromised by external personal events.

[oliver sudden]

On the other hand, were the clarinets obscured by Anja's homemade mutes?

Homemade clarinet mutes? Tell me more!

(I recently played a piece in which for a few minutes I played a ‘half-clarinet’, with the barrel and top joint temporarily put to one side and the mouthpiece inserted directly in the right-hand joint, with the left hand thus being free to operate a plunger mute. But I’m guessing that’s not what was happening here…)

[oddoneout]

I was in the Hall, under difficult personal circumstances, and stayed only for the Beethoven. I enjoyed the performance and didn't have the sense that orchestra and soloist were on different pulses. Tobias Feldmann is a very physical performer - twisting and ducking at the waist, gesturing with his whole upper body as he goes through a cadence - and of course through the cadenzas. I think that his personality, if I may put it like that, as well as his performance, was a large factor in the burst of enthusiastic applause following the last movement of the concerto. I have intended to listen again on Sounds to refresh my memory of the performance - and to hear the Brahms that I missed. I thought Anja Bihlmaier and the BBC Philharmonic were in respectful coordination, though possibly the orchestral part lacked a bit of fizz. This concerto is an especial favourite of mine, so it was a sadness to have my enjoyment of the evening compromised by external personal events.

I am sorry to hear that external factors affected your evening's experience, and hope that being able to listen again and fill the gaps will help.
Your comment about Feldmann being a very physical player may explain the issues I had with different pulses. If I had been watching as well as listening I would have had the visual clues to indicate what he was doing with the music, and the brain would have done the necessary interpretation. Bit like travelling in a car on a winding road and being able to see which way the corners go rather than just randomly being moved from side to side. Another case of "you had to be there" perhaps?

[Barbirollians]

Found this rather an ordinary Prom save for Warp and Weft which I found compelling. The Brahms 4 was well played but a bit low powered for me . The Beethoven improved as it went along - I get the pulse thing about the first movement and I find the banging timpani which makes its point in the piano version of the concerto out of place here - there is no evidence Beethoven expected the cadenza to be used in the violin version as I understand.